The following blog post is the latest edition of Meet the Bees, a series in which we get to know the employees at CloudBees (affectionately known internally as “Bees”). In today’s post, the spotlight is on Buffi Gresh, Area Vice President, Product Business Team!
With an elaborate experience of 20+ years in multiple legs of IT including architecture, development and business value realization, Buffi wears several hats. She is a product development and DevOps evangelist, author, speaker and an IT leader who helps companies navigate digital transformation utilizing best of breed enterprise solutions. Buffi is passionate about numbers and received her BS in Physics/Math and her MS in Computer Science from Lehigh University. Early in her career, she founded a software development company where she built enterprise-grade software for Fortune 500 logos such as Merrill, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and more.
In our candid fireside chat with Buffi, we got to know more about her life at CloudBees, aspirations, likes, dislikes and life in general. Here are some samples from an engaging conversation.
Who are you? What is your role at CloudBees?
My name is Buffi Gresh and I work as the Area Vice President of the Product Business Team here at CloudBees. I find new ways to connect the product strategies and roadmaps to the critical business needs with the ultimate goal of providing the best software solutions to the largest global companies for enabling and driving enterprise-scale digital transformation.
At CloudBees, I work with some of the largest companies in the world to quantify efficiency, productivity and throughput gains obtained via mature continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD). This is an exciting time where the ability to deliver quality software to customers instantly can ensure the survival of an enterprise and CloudBees is enabling that at scale.
What does a typical day look like for you?
As a technical leader at CloudBees, I spend a lot of time helping people find efficient ways to connect and execute. In this new age of agile and remote global work, things move at lightning speed, so I make a continuous effort each day to ensure we are checking in with each other. I spend the bulk of my time on video calls; co-innovating, identifying new capabilities for our customers, finding ways to market the impact we are already making in the world, improving our customer experience and driving internal efficiency.
What is your best experience, so far, in working at CloudBees? What has been the best thing you have worked on since joining CloudBees?
What I appreciate most about working at CloudBees is that we recognize and appreciate the fact that most people have vast knowledge and breadth of experience. The culture encourages all the Bees to expand their participation outside of a defined title. We encourage the take-charge and get-it-done attitude and hence, people don’t hoard their work.
Our company culture rewards innovation and frowns on politics. It’s really empowering to know that you can effect change and fully leverage your skills. For example, I was originally hired at CloudBees to lead Global Business Value Consulting and from that role, I expanded to leading a product business team. The skills needed for both jobs intersect, but the titles and day-to-day work are very different. CloudBees wants to leverage everyone in a way that elevates both the person’s growth as well as the organizational value.
What do you like most about your colleagues at CloudBees?
Unexpectedly, in the last three years at CloudBees, I have made lifelong friends. No doubt, CloudBees hires people and not resumes. We have some of the kindest, brilliant, creative and hard-working people I have come across in my technology career. We use concepts like weekly watercooler and remote happy hour to connect as a global company and encourage people to voice their opinions. Everyone embodies a customer-first attitude and really tries to do the right thing. It is ok to disagree and it is ok to make mistakes. My colleagues help drive a culture of extreme ownership and innovative thinking. We have fun while getting a lot of stuff done.
If you could eat only one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Don’t cringe! The answer is easy - it’s Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli. It’s been my favorite food for as long as I can remember, probably since the age of 10. :)
What's your favorite sport?
That’s easy, Golf it is! Golf is my favorite sport because I feel it is one of the few sports that offer equal opportunity. You can be a 250 lb football player with arms of steel, a 105 lb ballerina or a retiree and have the ability to hit the ball with the same accuracy and distance. It’s a game of patience and execution. Playing golf brings out the best and worst in a person as it might turn out to be super frustrating when you can’t hit the ball the way you want. This would be the sport I would choose as a kid if I could do it all over again.
What is your favorite social media platform and why?
I have no favorite in particular. I favor every platform for different reasons. Comparing Twitter to Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook or any other platform is like comparing apples and guitars. They are all good for different purposes. Though, Twitter is kind of amazing because, unlike Facebook, you expect to be taken out of Twitter by a link. Twitter also allows for global connections like no other platform.
If you weren’t working in your field, what would you be doing?
If I was not working in tech, I would be a day trader or professional poker player. Now, this makes me rethink my favorite sports answer! ;)
We had an amazing time catching up with Buffi Gresh and learning more about her as a person and her journey at CloudBees! Watch this space to meet more Bees in our upcoming blogs.